Wednesday, June 12, 2013

In the coming weeks and months, I will try to see as many patriot leaders in Europe as possible. And I always ask them for their views on Israel. Because Israel is the litmus proof.The Jewish people did exactly the opposite of what the Europeans did after the Second World War. They drew the right conclusion. They realized that without a nation-state of their own there could be no safety for their people.

One would think that if the EU wanted to hamper trade from a disputed territory in Israel, they would surely do the same to say, the northern, Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus, which really does count as an occupied region. But no. Instead the EU approved a 259 million euro aid package for the Turkish Cypriot community back in 2006. Oh well.
But let’s face it, Europe’s antipathy toward Israel didn’t fall out of the sky when the EU was established. For do remember, US Air Force planes resupplying Israeli armed forces during the 1973 Yom Kippur war were not even allowed to refuel on European soil as Israel faced extermination. The EU was founded 20 years after this European display of moral heroism.Maybe the words of Dutch Writer Leon de Winter are true: The love Jews once felt for Europe has remained unanswered.

Two recent developments show the extent to which the mainstreaming of rabid anti-Israel sentiment in Europe is harming Europe itself. One, a new exhibit glorifying Palestinian suicide bombers at one of France’s most famous museums, undermines France’s security. The other, a British union’s decision to effectively bar members from contact with another British workers’ group because the latter opposes boycotting Israel, undermines Britons’ civil liberties.

Irish Christian Friends of Israel (ICFI) is calling on Eamon Gilmore, Ireland’s minister for foreign affairs and trade, to reject a push to label West Bank goods as “settler” products at the next European Union Foreign Affairs Council meeting on June 14.

A Greek-Israeli businessman who was subject to anti-Semitic rhetoric last week by a Golden Dawn parliamentarian said he is happy to have helped reveal the true neo-Nazi nature of the party.
At a June 7 committee meeting, Golden Dawn parliament member Ilias Kasidiaris — as quoted on the party’s English website – called Sabby Mionis “the Jew Mionis” who “refused to testify in the Committee of the Greek Parliament, because ‘holocaust’ deniers are part of it [the committee]! Of course they are a part of it.”

Our communities stand on solid moral ground. Built on vacant land, no settlement stands on the ruins of any Arab village…In Judea and Samaria there is ample room for many Jews, many Palestinians and peaceful coexistence. Our communities stand on solid moral ground because the right of Jews to live in Shiloh, Hebron or Beth El is inalienable. These sites are the cradles of Jewish civilisation, the birthplace of Hebraic culture. Negating the right of Jews to live in these historic parts of the Jewish homeland would be morally wrong.

Hon. Jason Kenney (Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, CPC): Mr. Speaker, Richard Falk is an embarrassment to the United Nations Human Rights Council. He has praised 9/11 conspiracy theorists repeatedly. He has suggested that the United States provoked terrorist attacks against it. He is now attacking Canadian-led UN Watch. We call on Richard Falk to be fired as a special rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council. He is a disgrace to that body and the United Nations.

Why the BBC seems to feel the need to play down Falk’s long history of anti-Israel campaigning, antisemitic remarks, adherence to conspiracy theories and general offensiveness is one question. How the BBC thinks it can meet its required standards of accuracy and impartiality by unquestioningly repeating and promoting the opinions of a man it knows full well to be far removed from both of those criteria is a yet more pressing question which needs to be asked more than ever at this time.

Washington has said he should quit his UN role, which like other rights monitors at the world body he holds on an unpaid, voluntary basis.
Falk has also come under fire for his anti-Israel bias from UN Watch, a lobby group affiliated with the American Jewish Committee.
On Monday, Falk publicly called on the UN to investigate and potentially expel the watchdog organization, after it mobilized world leaders to condemn his comments blaming the Boston Marathon bombings on “the American global domination project” and “Tel Aviv.”

Alon found that 20.5% of the global biotech industry's turnover - $24.6 billion out of $120 billion - is based on products that originated in Israeli research. This figure does not include several very important products by Israeli researchers who are currently abroad. It also excludes products developed through the use of so-called "Kvili patents" for the production of monoclonal antibodies developed by Prof. Shmuel Kvili.

But, counter-intuitive as it may sound, companies from Europe are also coming to Israel to seek funding.
Israel has something that Italy, and the rest of the EU, does not have – a tolerance for risk, said Dr. Roberto Mirabella. He is co-founder and CFO of Remembrane, a culture cell company that deals with injury repair, which was part of the Italian delegation to BioMed.

But few are as effective as Prevena, the latest offering from international medical technology giant Kinetic Concepts (KCI, represented in Israel by Chemitec), the company says. With Prevena, according to Ron Silverman, chief medical officer for KCI, the average incision treated with the device will heal in five to seven days, about half the amount of time it would take to heal when compared to older devices.

England’s Under-21 football team, already eliminated from the UEFA Under-21 Finals in Israel after losing their first two games, were beaten 1-0 by Israel in Jerusalem’s Teddy Kolleck stadium to be left bottom of their group having achieved no points and having scored just one goal in their three group games (and that goal was from the penalty spot).

A book for sale on the online auction site Ebay has a Jewish endorsement from an unlikely source: Ernest Hemingway.
The book, Some of My Best Friends are Jews, written by Robert Gessner in the 1930s, is an examination of the Jewish predicament of the early 2oth Century. Published in 1936, 9 years later Hemingway presented Gessner with a signed copy that reads “My best friend, my brother” —written in Hebrew. The text is accompanied by Hemingway’s signature and a Star of David with the word Jude written inside it, similar to the yellow star that Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis.

Above and Beyond: The Birth of the Israeli Air Force

Sample Reel for forthcoming documentary feature "Above and Beyond: The Birth of the Israeli Air Force" currently in production by Playmount Productions. h/t Blazing Cat Fur

The famous Guggenheim Museum in New York has a blog that says it "tells the Guggenheim’s evolving story, and offers insights on vis...

Hasbys!

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